The present invention relates generally to aesthetic structures or panels which are supported and/or hung from the primary building structure. In particular, the invention is directed to the mounting members which cooperate with the panels.
Traditional suspended ceiling structures formed from suspended grids of acoustically absorbent tiles are commonly found in commercial work spaces such as professional offices. While such structures provide a pleasant and acoustically absorbent space, designers and architects who desire to create the feel of an open loft space often object to the uniformity and lowered ceiling height created by conventional drop ceilings. Thus, more and more businesses are opting for so-called open plenum ceiling designs. In the open plenum, no suspended ceiling is provided that screens the entire hard deck or hard ceiling along with the HVAC duct work, wiring and the like. Rather, these structural elements are exposed. Open plenum ceilings are more commonly found in retail stores and similar commercial settings, but also can be found in office spaces.
In office spaces where open plenum ceilings are found, individual offices within the office space often are created using reconfigurable partitions that may be considerably lower than the hard ceiling. Whether in an office space or some other in-door space, the combination of an open plenum design with partitions that do not rise to the ceiling hard deck tends to leave the space unstructured and, consequently, less useful and aesthetically pleasing than it might otherwise be with some panel structure that helps to define and differentiate the space.
To differentiate a space and to create a more interesting visual in a loft style space or open plenum design, architects sometimes will specify that an open loft space be provided with customized panel structures suspended from the ceiling to differentiate the space within the room. Such suspended panel structures not only can delineate the space but also may dampen extraneous noise and create an interesting visual. Unfortunately, such panel structures must be preformed into the desired shape, thus making them difficult to ship or mass produce. Consequently, such panel structures tend to be made only as customized pieces. Such customization leads to considerable expense to fabricate such a suspended panel structure and its framing.
Similar panel structures can also be mounted on wall surfaces to create interesting visuals and dampen noise. These wall mounted devices have similar problems as described above.
In order to provide an alternative, Armstrong World Industries designed a panel structure that is suspended within a space and includes a flexible panel maintained in a flexed configuration. The panel structure is described in co-pending international patent applications PCT/US02/23040, PCT/US02/22945 and PCT/US02/22947, all which claim priority from U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/306,516. The panel structure includes a support member which supports the flexible panel and is connected to a biasing member. The biasing member cooperates with a portion of the flexible panel to maintain the panel in a flexed configuration. The configuration allows the elements to be easily interchanged to provide a variety of configurations. Consequently, customization of many of the pieces is not required. However, the attachment of the support and biasing members to the panels can be cumbersome and can limit the flexibility of the system. In addition, the visuals of the panel structure described are limited by the manner in which the support and biasing members are attached to the panels. Therefore, there is a need for a system in which the mounting members allow maximum flexibility in the positioning of the panel structure and enhance the visual appearance of the system.